Must Do

Beaches

If there was a world championship for the best beaches, New South Wales and its Sydney city beaches such as Bondi Beach, or the Northern Beaches would be disqualified on grounds of unfair advantage.

And while there are plenty of surf beaches in Sydney and NSW that are just perfect in their raw state, there are also quite a few that come with extras. If you prefer your beaches served with espresso bars as well as sand bars – not to mention spas, surf lessons, and maybe a dolphin or two - the pristine New South Wales coastline has just the best beaches to be found.

Surfing

Learning to surf in NSW is easy with accredited surf schools up and down the coast. As NSW has more accessible surf beaches than anywhere else in Australia, it’s the perfect place to learn to surf.

Make sure you know where and how to surf safely when you're on holiday in NSW. Check out these safety tips first.

Luckily for surfers the Pacific Ocean delivers some of the most consistent waves in the country. It’s no surprise then that NSW has produced most of Australia’s surfing world champions and continues to lead the way with learn-to-surf schools, surf safaris and surfing events.

A snapshot of NSW's surfing history

In 1915 Hawaiian surfer, Duke Kahanamoku, surfed at Freshwater in Sydney on a locally-crafted surfboard based on traditional Hawaiian design.

Sydney’s Isobel Latham was the first Australian to ride a surfboard at Freshwater.

Australia was chosen by International Surfing Federation to host the first official World Championship in 1964.

In 1976 Australia joined the global pro surf circuit with the establishment of Australian Surfing Professionals.

Top Aussie surfers in the early days of surfing - Peter Drouyn, Nat Young and “Midget” Farrelly.